Practice and policy

To influence policy and improve practice, IQd provides practical tools for key actors, institutions and policy makers, convenes meetings of experts and officials around recurring issues, and supports the work of civil society organisations.

Tools

IQd is developing for mediators and other actors a unique series of materials which integrates issues and process. The IQd Conflict Prevention Handbook Series provides concise and prescriptive guidelines to identify, understand and address recurring issues using a quiet diplomatic approach.

In collaboration with The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, IQd is completing an analytical evaluation and comparative assessment of the preventive diplomacy work of selected IGOs with relevant mandates and experience in preventive diplomacy. The work will identify factors behind successful practice, highlight lessons and provide concrete recommendations.

Workshops and consultations

IQd organises meetings of experts, practitioners and officials on conflict prevention and key issues to stimulate reflection and learning, enhance understanding of effective approaches, encourage new thinking around institutional development, and create linkages across regions and sectors.

Agreeing that a direct exchange with some analysis of experience would contribute to enhancing practice, IQd co-convened with a highly-regarded practitioner, H.E. Dr. Max van der Stoel, Minister of State of the Netherlands and former OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities, a unique consultation of Secretaries-General and senior officials from fifteen IGOs to share and discuss the what and how of their work in quiet diplomacy. Follow-up events with cross-regional IGO representation have included a conference on conflict prevention and human rights, and an informal meeting of the UN General Assembly, IGO representatives and experts co-convened by IQd, Dr. van der Stoel and the 60th Presidency of the General Assembly, on operational conflict prevention.

IQd contributes further to specific knowledge and skill-building through tailored IQd workshops around recurring issues, quiet diplomacy and dialogue, as well as through professional development courses of partner organisations including UNITAR and the Folke Bernadotte Academy.

Building IGO-civil society linkages for conflict prevention

To complement direct engagement of IGOs and enhance prospects for constructive IGO-civil society relations, IQd has provided advice, technical assistance and thematic workshops for the Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict (GPPAC), an international network of civil society organisations.